Sunday, August 21, 2016

Second Week Training

A lot of amazing and also difficult things happened this week. Everything that happened really strengthened my testimony that this is God´s work and that He loves me. He is growing me really fast!

We had divisions with another Elder while his companion went to a meeting. For a whole day, I was with two missionaries that just arrived 2 weeks ago. That was super exciting! Super training day!

About halfway through the week, I started to lose my voice. That was really scary because my companion is still learning how to speak and still doesn´t understand enough to have conversations. For two days, I could barely talk, but I didn´t lose my voice entirely. I whispered to my companion when I could to keep from losing my voice.

Fortunately, I am better now, especially now that I drank honey and lemon with water. It was kind of nasty, but it helped. I am so grateful for my voice! It is such a blessing to be able to speak with others.

Today, my companion and I bought hats. It´s starting to get hot and sunny again.

On Sunday, I was given a surprise talk on purity about 5 minutes before the meeting started. As I looked in the guide to the scriptures and read the definition, I realized that personal purity is a key part to our purpose here as God´s children. Our ultimate goal is to be pure, or perfect, free from sin, even as Jesus, or our Father in heaven, is perfect. We alone cannot be perfect because every day we make mistakes that keep us from returning to God. But through the Atonement of Christ, we can be me made pure. He suffered for our errors and our pains so that we do not have to suffer. Al we have to do is accept Him by living the gospel, through faith, repentance, baptism, and enduring to the end. As we accept Him and keep His commandments, we become free from sin and have His promise that we will always have His spirit to be with us. I felt the spirit testify through me, just like I do now, that the things I was saying were God´s words, not mine. How could I have stood up to give a talk in another language that I had only prepared for five minutes? I know that God works through us as we have diligent desires to serve and love. He makes us bigger as we seek to serve those around us. I love Him!

Tuco- noodles with salsa = really tasty!

Please pray for Brian (11) and David (8). They are brothers that want to be baptized. Their father, Oscar, is a member, but is struggling to come back to church. Thanks!